Fifty Moments In Time
by Clare
Summary: A collection of vignettes written to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary. Will eventually cover every era up to and including the Eleventh Doctor
1. Moment One

**Moment One**

There was something strange going on and Barbara Wright, history teacher at Coal Hill School, meant to get to the bottom of it. Five months ago, a new girl, Susan Foreman, had arrived at the school, a girl who was amazingly brilliant at history but had several inexplicable gaps in her knowledge. Such as not knowing how many shillings there were in a pound; even a child of primary school age knew the answer was twenty. And that remark: "The decimal system hasn't started yet." What did Susan mean by that? Despite this, Barbara couldn't deny that Susan was one of the best pupils she had taught; she had even suggested that the girl should specialise in history.

But that was where the trouble began. Susan had refused Barbara's offer to come to her home and tutor her privately, saying her grandfather disliked strangers. But the way she said it made it sound like she had something to hide. And then there was her homework; its standard had been slipping lately and Barbara had now decided enough was enough. She was going to have words with Susan's grandfather, tell him to take some interest in his granddaughter's education.

Now, Barbara was making her way up Totter's Lane; according to the school secretary, Susan lived here, at Number 76. She counted off the house numbers as she walked - 73, 74, 75 . . . Then, she stopped; in the place where Number 76 should have been, there was nothing but an old junkyard, beyond which stood a large wall. Barbara read the words painted on the junkyard gates:

_I.M. FOREMAN  
Scrap Merchant  
76, TOTTER'S LANE_

Frowning, she checked the piece of paper on which the secretary had written Susan's address. It definitely said: _76, Totter's Lane_ and this was definitely 76, Totter's Lane, but the name on the gates could only be a coincidence. From what Barbara knew, Susan's grandfather was a doctor, not a scrap merchant. So what was going on here? Maybe the neighbours knew something. With that in mind, Barbara walked up to Number 75 and knocked on the door.

After a couple of minutes, the door opened and a middle-aged woman with her hair in curlers peered out. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Barbara cleared her throat, then tried to explain as simply as she could. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'm a teacher at Coal Hill School. I'm rather concerned about one of my pupils and I was told she lived at 76, Totter's Lane. I was hoping to speak to her guardian."

"Well, you won't find anyone living in there." The woman gestured in the direction of the junkyard. "Least of all one of your pupils. It's been a junkyard since before the War. Sorry, but you've obviously made a mistake somewhere."

"I see," said Barbara, keeping her tone neutral. "Well, thank you anyway. I'll be going now." With that, she turned and walked away, pondering the mystery that was Susan Foreman. From the sound of it, Susan had given a false address when she enrolled at Coal Hill School. But why? What was she trying to hide? She seemed to be an ordinary girl, if somewhat brighter than most, but there was definitely something about her that couldn't easily be explained. For one thing, how on Earth had she learned as much about history as she had? Barbara sighed. "It's no good - I'll have to talk to someone about this." She left, as yet unaware of the police box (or at least that was what it appeared to be) standing incongruously in the junkyard.


	2. Moment Two

**Moment Two**

The city of Millennius had some peculiar ideas about justice. For one thing, instead of being innocent until proved guilty, anyone accused of a crime was guilty until proved innocent. And, if you couldn't prove your innocence . . . Well, you might end up in the same position as Ian, who stood listening to the beeps of the clock that was counting down the time until he would die for a murder he had not committed.

All he had done was find the body. He had just arrived in Millennius to recover the last of the micro-keys which had been hidden in various locations on the planet Marinus. Instead, moments after he found the body of Eprin, the man he and the others were supposed to meet, someone had knocked him unconscious and, the next thing he knew, he was a murder suspect. At his trial, the Doctor had tried to defend him but had been unable to prove his innocence; consequently, he now stood in a room with an unsmiling guard, waiting for death.

Like any Englishman, Ian was determined to face this with the traditional stiff upper lip; even so, he couldn't help glancing at the clock every so often to see how long he had left. The guard had told him the execution would take place the moment the pointer reached the star, but had not told him how he would die. And, when Ian had asked if he could see his friends one last time, the guard had simply shaken his head.

Ian had hoped to be given a chance to say goodbye, to tell Barbara and Susan to be brave and not grieve too deeply, to tell the Doctor to look after them. The final requests of a condemned man and Millennian law had denied him even that. However, he could see them in his mind. Susan, who was such a puzzle to him and Barbara that they had followed her home from school one evening; her mysterious grandfather, whom he and Barbara knew only as the Doctor; Barbara, his fellow teacher and close friend . . . No, more than that; he was in love with Barbara, had been for some time. He'd been planning to ask her to marry him, but that was before they got mixed up with the Doctor. Now, however . . .

Ian's one hope was that the Doctor, Barbara and Susan (along with their new friends, Altos and Sabetha) might find the real killer before it was too late. But the longer he stood here, the less likely it seemed; the pointer was already pointing to where eleven o'clock would be on an ordinary clock. Even if they did uncover the truth, could the Doctor and the others reach the execution chamber in time? The pointer was almost touching the star - in another few moments . . .

"Stop!"

Ian looked round at the sound of the voice; Chief Enquirer Tarron had just entered the room and was speaking to the guard with some urgency. "Eprin's killers have been caught - this man must not die."

"Quite right," added a second voice. And, with that, the Doctor strode into the room, closely followed by Barbara and Susan. "As I said all along, my friend is innocent. Now, release him at once."

With the pointer just about to touch the star, the guard pressed a button and the beeping which had been counting down the remainder of Ian's life ceased. For the first time since arriving in Millennius, Ian was a free man. Barbara and Susan ran towards him and flung their arms around him, as the Doctor joined them. "Didn't I tell you to trust me, my boy?" the old man said. "We've found out who really murdered Eprin - and we've got the last micro-key. And that only leaves us with one more thing to do."

"Yes," agreed Ian, relieved to be spared from whatever death the Millennians had had in store for him. "Deliver the keys to Arbitan."


	3. Moment Three

**Moment Three**

He had not wanted to take them with him, but they had left him no choice. If he had let them go after what they had seen, it would only have been a matter of time before other people came snooping around. And that meant the secret of the TARDIS, not to mention what he and Susan were, would sooner or later be exposed. The only way the Doctor could hope to avoid this was to take off with Ian and Barbara on board.

Perhaps this hadn't been the wisest move, but the two teachers had brought it on themselves by barging into the TARDIS. At least that was what the Doctor had thought at the time, but things had changed since then. He had previously only tolerated humans, but he had found himself growing fond of Ian and Barbara, had even begun to think of them as friends. Ian had an adventurous spirit and Barbara . . . Well, aside from a misguided attempt to persuade the Aztecs to give up human sacrifice, Barbara had shown a great deal of common sense.

However, though they had stopped mentioning the subject, Ian and Barbara had always wanted to return to their own time. And, since the Doctor had never been able to get them back (at least not at the right size) they were prepared to take their chances in a captured Dalek time-capsule. The Doctor had serious misgivings - if they made a mistake, there was no telling where or when they would end up, or even if they would survive the journey - but they had insisted. So he had gone into the capsule with them and was instructing them on how to operate it.

"And this is the self-destruct button," he told them, pointing to the button in question. "You must use it as soon as you land, understand? Because, if anyone from your time were to find this machine and figure out how it worked, it could change the whole of your history. So, if you have any plans to take up time-travel as a hobby, you can forget them."

"Don't worry, Doctor," said Ian. "I've had enough of time-travel to last me a lifetime."

True, travelling in space and time had led to many exciting adventures, but, as far as Ian was concerned right now, the next place he wanted to see was London in the 1960s, a place where he and Barbara would no longer have to worry about Aztecs, or giant insects, or Roman slave traders, or Daleks. He wanted to get away from all that, return to the world he had left behind and he knew Barbara felt the same. He paused and looked into the eyes of the old man who had uprooted the two of them from their former lives. "Well, I guess this is goodbye."

"Yes. Goodbye, Doctor," Barbara added. "And give my love to Vicki, won't you?" She thought of the orphaned girl from the 25th Century and the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan; she had come to love both girls as she would a daughter, or a niece, or a younger sister.

"Of course I will, my dear. And good luck to both of you." With that, the Doctor took one last look at the two humans who had followed Susan home from school, whose intrusion into the TARDIS had prompted him to make the somewhat rash decision to dematerialise with them on board. Then, he stepped out of the capsule and watched as it disappeared, taking Ian and Barbara with it. For better or for worse, they were gone from his life; all he could do now was hope they made it home safely and that they remembered what he had told them to do once they got there.

For a moment, the Doctor stood looking at the spot where the capsule had once been. Then, he shook his head and turned in the direction of the TARDIS, where Vicki was waiting for him. It was going to seem strange not having Ian and Barbara around, but he supposed he would grow used to it in time.

Just as he had grown used to having the two teachers around in the first place.


	4. Moment Four

**Moment Four**

The Daleks had been defeated, but at a terrible price. Thanks to the Time Destructor, the once fertile world of Kembel had been reduced to a barren desert. The Doctor knew it would take centuries for the planet to recover - if it ever did. But, more than that, he had seen two of his own companions die during this adventure; two young women, born centuries apart, had fallen in the fight to stop the Daleks' latest plot to conquer the Universe. He hadn't known either of them for very long, but that did nothing to lessen the sense of loss.

Loss. The Doctor had some experience of that already, having seen first Susan, then Ian and Barbara, then Vicki leave the TARDIS. But Katarina, the Trojan handmaiden, had been the first of his companions to die. An escaped convict who had stowed away on the spacecraft the Doctor and his companions were travelling in had taken her hostage; to keep him from forcing the craft to head back to Kembel, she had opened the airlock and jettisoned her captor. Sadly, she had also jettisoned herself and her body was now floating in the vacuum of space.

With the threat of the Daleks still present, the Doctor and Steven had had little time to mourn Katarina's death. The main priority had been keeping the Daleks from regaining possession of the Time Destructor's core (made from the rare mineral taranium) which the Doctor had stolen. In the end, after a long chase through time and space, the Doctor had been forced to hand the core over. All had seemed lost - until he turned the Time Destructor against the Daleks. Time on Kembel had begun racing forwards, causing all living things on the planet to wither and die, including his newest companion, Sara Kingdom.

The Doctor shook his head, recalling how, when he and Steven first met Sara, she had been trying to kill them; she had already killed their friend, Bret Vyon, who had turned out to be her brother. In the end, however, she had given her life to make sure the Doctor made it back to the TARDIS safely. Her death had been more horrific than Katarina's; the Time Destructor had aged her to death, then accelerated her body's decomposition until she was nothing but dust.

The Doctor glanced across at Steven, who was looking down at the TARDIS console with unfocused eyes. There was no need to ask; it was obvious that Steven's mind was preoccupied with memories of Katarina and Sara. Nevertheless, the Doctor broke the sombre silence with the words: "You miss them, don't you?"

Steven nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The deaths of both women played over and over in his mind, as if on an endless loop. Katarina, struggling and crying in the airlock, then floating lifeless in space. Sara, reduced to a wizened crone, collapsing in the dust yards from the TARDIS . . . Steven suddenly became aware of a burning sensation in his eyes.

"As do I, my boy," the Doctor said. "But they gave their lives to save us and we must take comfort in that. Yes, we must take comfort in that."

All the same, this had been a Pyrrhic victory; the deaths of two companions had been a heavy price to pay. Would Katarina and Sara be the only ones? Or were there others, scattered through time and space, who were destined to meet a similar fate? The Doctor had no way of knowing, but he knew one thing; right now, he wanted to get as far away from the planet Kembel as possible.

Without saying another word, he pressed the dematerialisation switch and, with its characteristic sound, the TARDIS slowly faded away, leaving behind a devastated planet. The result of the terrible power of the Time Destructor . . . All the Doctor could do now was hope it would be a long time before the Daleks attempted anything on this scale again.

But, after four encounters with the Daleks, he knew they would never give up their desire for conquest.


	5. Moment Five

**Moment Five**

Dorothea Chaplet, more commonly known as Dodo, woke to find herself in unfamiliar surroundings. Her last clear memory was of arriving in London with the Doctor, returning home after a journey through time and space. Everything after that was a blank; all memory of WOTAN, the computer she and the Doctor had encountered when they visited the Post Office Tower, had been erased from her mind. She sat up as the door opened and an older man walked in and sat down beside her. It wasn't the Doctor, but there was something familiar about him; she had an odd feeling she had seen him somewhere before. But where? And where was the Doctor?

Before she could ask either question, the man spoke. "Ah, I see you're awake. The Doctor said you would sleep for forty-eight hours."

Forty-eight hours . . . The words echoed in Dodo's mind, along with several questions about what had happened to her. She could remember things like the Monoids, a race of one-eyed aliens with bushy hair, and the Celestial Toymaker, the mysterious figure who had once tried to turn her, the Doctor and Steven into his playthings. But not what she had done after arriving in London in the year 1966 . . . "What happened?" she asked. She recalled leaving the TARDIS, but nothing after that.

Sir Charles Summer knew he would have to choose his words carefully; the Doctor had left explicit instructions that Dodo must not be reminded of WOTAN in any way. Otherwise, there was no telling what might happen. With WOTAN and its army of War Machines neutralised, there was little chance of her falling back under the computer's power, but the Doctor had left nothing to chance. Dodo had to be made to forget.

"You had a blackout, my dear," Sir Charles told her. "The Doctor said you needed a few days in the country to recover. So he arranged for you to be brought here, to my home."

"I see." Dodo accepted the explanation without question, but that still left her with the question of why she couldn't remember what had happened to her between leaving the TARDIS and waking up here. Not to mention why the man sitting beside her seemed familiar, even though she had never met him before. She put both questions to Sir Charles, who looked at her for a moment before answering.

"I was there when you passed out. As for your lapse of memory, the Doctor said it could happen." This was true enough; the Doctor had put Dodo into a hypnotic sleep to break the hold WOTAN had over her. And he had instructed her to "forget all about this distressing incident", hence why she could not remember anything that had happened to her since she arrived in London. But Sir Charles couldn't risk telling her all this, so he simply shook his head and told her not to worry. "But I don't think we've been properly introduced," he added. "I'm Sir Charles Summer and, as I already told you, this is my home."

"Dodo Chaplet." Though she had a strange feeling that Sir Charles already knew her name, Dodo found herself introducing herself to him. It was all too confusing; she felt she couldn't be certain of anything anymore. For some reason, the names Ben and Polly had entered her mind, even though she had, as far as she remembered, never met anyone called by either of those names in her life. Yet she felt as though she had . . .

In the wake of the WOTAN incident, Dodo decided to stay behind when the Doctor moved on; the news was conveyed to him by Ben and Polly, who became his new companions. And, though she would never knew why, she always had an uneasy feeling every time she looked at the Post Office Tower.


	6. Moment Six

**Moment Six**

The Doctor knew from his previous encounters with the Daleks how ruthless they could be; they would stop at nothing to conquer, subjugate and ultimately exterminate all other life-forms. They had an almost fanatical belief that anything that wasn't a Dalek had to be destroyed, "a dislike for the unlike" as Ian had once put it. They could be devious too, but the Dalek Lesterson had revived showed a new level of deviousness; it was actually pretending it wanted to help the Vulcan colony.

_"I am your ser-vant,"_ it had kept repeating, almost like a mantra. And Lesterson was gullible enough to believe it. He had no idea how dangerous the Daleks were, no idea that they were a race which killed without mercy. They might let you live as long as you were of use to them, but as soon as your usefulness ended . . .

The Doctor had tried in vain to convince Lesterson that he was making a big mistake, but Lesterson could only see the benefits in employing the Daleks. Why, the Doctor wondered with a degree of frustration, wouldn't he listen? Why was he so willing to take what the Dalek said at face value? He actually seemed to believe the Daleks (a space capsule containing three of them had been found in the swamp) could be an asset to the colony, whereas the Doctor knew they would prove to be anything but. Unless something was done, even this one Dalek was capable of wiping out the entire colony.

Daleks, always Daleks - the Doctor had only been in this new body for a few hours and he was already faced with the most evil race in the Universe, a race totally devoid of pity. A race whose sole purpose was to wipe out all other forms of life . . .

Lesterson's Dalek might have had its gun removed, but the Doctor wasn't fooled into thinking it was harmless, not for one moment. No matter how much it kept up its "servant of humanity" act, there was no getting away from the fact that it was merely stalling for time, waiting perhaps until the time was right for it to put its plans into action. And, when that happened, the whole colony would be in danger.

The Doctor recalled what he had said when he was trying to warn Lesterson of the danger the Dalek posed. "It will end the colony's problems, because it will end the colony!" Not that it had done much good; Lesterson was blinded by his own success, unwilling to hear anything said against the Dalek.

Indeed, the Doctor doubted his previous incarnation (who would have said the same words with much more authority) would have done any better. If there was one thing he had learned on his travels, it was that some people wouldn't listen to reason - and it looked as though Lesterson was one of them.

And then there was the question of where these Daleks had come from, not to mention when. Since none of the colonists knew what the Daleks were, this must be some time before the Daleks invaded Earth in the middle of the 22nd Century, though the Doctor did not know the precise year.

What he did know, however, was that Lesterson's Dalek had recognised him, even though he had regenerated just before he, Ben and Polly landed on Vulcan. That could only mean one thing; the capsule must have been one of the Daleks' time machines. These three Daleks must be from the future, or at least from a later point in the Doctor's time stream.

Whatever their origins, one thing seemed certain; it was only a question of time before these supposedly servile Daleks showed their true colours. And, to further complicate matters, rebellion was brewing in the colony and there was every possibility that the rebels might re-arm the Daleks in order to use them against the colony's leaders. In which case . . . Well, the Doctor knew the Daleks well enough to know they only worked with other races as long as it suited their purposes. Something had to be done to stop all this madness.


	7. Moment Seven

**Moment Seven**

She woke to find herself lying in a bare room with bars on the window, unable to imagine how she got here. The last thing she remembered was that she had been reading in the parlour, but had been so worried about her father that she couldn't concentrate on her book. After that, she had only a vague recollection of obeying a voice which told her to walk, then nothing whatsoever until she woke up here. Wherever here was . . .

Just as Victoria was wondering this, the door opened and a thing the likes of which she had never seen before glided into the room. It was tall and mechanical, with a domed head which had what seemed to be a single eye on the end of a long stalk, an eye which she sensed was watching her. She shrunk away as the thing moved closer to her, its eye trained on her unwaveringly; she could not explain it, but there was something about this thing which frightened her, something which spoke of an unimaginable evil. Somehow, despite being frightened out of her senses by this monstrosity, Victoria managed to speak. "What do you want of me?" she asked, her voice trembling. She longed to get away, but she could see no way of doing so; the window was barred and the thing - whatever it was - was blocking the doorway.

When the thing spoke, its voice sounded harsh and inhuman. _"You are a pris-on-er of the Da-leks!"_ it told her, the two bumps on top of its head flashing in time to its words. _"You will do what-ev-er we tell you to do! An-swer!"_

"Yes!" Victoria managed to say, her heart pounding. "But why am I being held here?"

_"You are be-ing held for two rea-sons,"_ the Dalek replied. _"To en-sure your fa-ther's co-op-e-ra-tion and be-cause you are vi-tal to our plans."_

"What plans?" Victoria asked the question before she had stopped to consider whether it was a good idea or not.

_"That is not for you to know!"_ The Dalek's tone suddenly seemed more menacing than before and Victoria cowered away. It withdrew from the room, but not before warning her what would happen to her if she tried to leave her stark prison. _"I will re-turn to in-spect you. An-y a-ttempt to es-cape will re-sult in your ex-ter-mi-na-tion. This is your first and last warn-ing. An-swer!"_

"Yes!" And, with that, Victoria watched as the Dalek glided away. Never in her life had she met something so terrifying, so merciless; she knew, without having to be told, that it had meant what it said. How could she ever hope to escape? Something told her that the Dalek she had seen was not the only one, that there were others here too. The window was barred, but, even it hadn't been, her full skirt would have meant using it as an escape route was out of the question anyway. Even so, she crossed to the window and peered through the bars, looking down at the grounds below. It was then that she realised where she was - in the disused south wing of Maxtible's house.

For a moment, she watched as three sparrows pecked around outside; they had freedom, something which the Daleks had stolen from her. She did not know what the Daleks were or where they came from, but, if the one which had just been menacing her was a typical example, she could see no hope of ever getting out of here. And where was her father? What were those awful creatures making him do? He was the only family she had and the thought that she might never see him again was more than she could bear. Tears welled up in her eyes and she began to weep.

As she stood by the barred window, crying in despair, Victoria had no idea that her imprisonment was part of a more elaborate plan, a plan involving a man who would play a major role in her future.


	8. Moment Eight

**Moment Eight**

"And here we can see the effect an atomic blast has on a building between five and ten miles from the centre of the explosion," Educator Balan explained as he led the party of students towards the ruined building. "Now, if you will all step this way . . ." He entered the building, with the small group of Dulcian teens following him in single file. Almost immediately, there was a shocked gasp from one of the girls.

Balan glanced at the students to see who had gasped. Since the whole party was wearing protective suits, it was difficult to tell them apart, but he could easily identify the girl in question by the way she stood staring at the two humanoid figures which sat motionless. Their bodies were covered in sores and they were almost completely bald, but Balan knew that was not why the girl had gasped. "Yes, I see . . ." He paused, waiting for the girl to supply her name.

"Milisa," she said, not taking her eyes off the two figures.

". . . Milisa has spotted the dummies which were placed here to show the effects of radiation on a living being," Balan went on. "As you all should know, a team of observers came to the Island of Death to witness the explosion of the test device. Unlike you, however, they wore no protective suits and, as a result, the radiation caused irreparable damage to their bodies. Many developed a fatal sickness, the symptoms of which are recreated in these two dummies. Others found that they could no longer have children, or that any children they had suffered birth defects . . ."

Balan paused in his lecture and looked at the assembled students. This knowledge of the long-term effects of an atomic explosion had been a major factor in the outlawing of all atomic research. It was felt such forces, even when used for peaceful purposes, were incompatible with Dulcian culture. Dulkis had been a planet of peace even before the Seventh Council initiated the research which led to the test explosion; there were a few weapons preserved on the Island of Death, but no weapons had been manufactured on the planet in living memory.

That was why the students were here, to see the weapons of the past and, more importantly, to see for themselves the horrors of atomic radiation. Every young Dulcian was expected to visit the Island at least once to be educated about the evils which had been unleashed here, to see what might happen to Dulkis if its people ever took up arms again. It was a sobering experience for the students - Milisa's reaction to the dummies was typical of most of them - and most were quick to accept the lesson they were being taught.

Not all of them, though. The year before last, Cully (the son of Director Senex) had been among those who came to the Island. But, rather than seeing it as a sobering experience, he seemed to see it as an exciting adventure. But Cully had always been something of a maverick and was not the sort to accept things without question. Indeed, unlike most Dulcians, he actually craved excitement; there were even rumours that he was taking small groups of young people on unauthorised expeditions to various locations on the planet. Balan didn't know if the rumours were true, but, knowing Cully, it wouldn't be at all surprising if they were.

Balan sometimes wondered if he should have a word with Senex, get him to curb his son's activities before someone got hurt. But, without evidence that Cully was organising unauthorised expeditions, much less that the expeditions were dangerous, there was little that could be done. So Balan dismissed Cully from his thoughts and concentrated on the students standing before him.

"This is why we must make sure the horrors we see here in this museum remain just that," he continued. "The relics of a more barbaric time, a time before we learned that a culture of peace would eliminate aggression from Dulkis."


	9. Moment Nine

**Moment Nine**

Throughout his travels in time and space, the Doctor had never attempted to contact his own people, the Time Lords. He dared not, knowing they would not look favourably on what he had been doing since leaving Gallifrey. For not only had he taken a TARDIS without permission, he had repeatedly become involved in the affairs of others. And that was something which a Time Lord was strictly forbidden to do.

In the end, however, he'd had no choice. During their travels, he, Jamie and Zoe had landed in what at first appeared to be the trenches of World War I, except it soon turned out that they were not even on Earth. One of his fellow Time Lords was assisting a race of warlike humanoids, taking soldiers from Earth's many wars (up to the early 20th Century) and bringing them to a planet where they were to be turned into the ultimate army and used to conquer the galaxy. Though the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, aided by some of the kidnapped soldiers, had tried to put a stop to all this, the situation was impossible to sort out without help from the Time Lords. So, well aware of the consequences, the Doctor had sent them a message.

Now, Jamie and Zoe had been sent back to their own times, their memories of their travels with the Doctor erased. And the Doctor had been put on trial, charged with interfering in the affairs of other peoples and planets. In response, he had shown his fellow Time Lords some of the evils he had been fighting - Quarks, Yeti, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Daleks . . .

But, for all his passionate attempts to defend his actions, the outcome of his trial was perhaps inevitable.

Banishment. He was being exiled to Earth, confined to one point in time and space. Not only that, he was going to be forced to regenerate and, since he'd found fault with all the faces he'd been shown, his fellow Time Lords had told him they would choose his new face for him. And, whatever face they chose, he would be stuck with it until the next time he regenerated, stuck with a face he'd had no say in selecting. The whole idea was outrageous. It was better than some of the penalties the Time Lords could have imposed, but it was still outrageous.

Now, hearing his own voice shouting the word "no" over and over, the Doctor spiralled through the Time Vortex, not knowing what he would look like when he emerged . . . Suddenly, he landed on a rather solid surface with a rather hard bump. Winded, he lay still for a moment before sitting up and looking down at his hands; they appeared unchanged, but that didn't mean his face was unchanged as well. A quick search through his pockets produced a small mirror and a quick glance in the mirror revealed a slightly clownish face with a mop of dark hair. He had not changed at all.

What was going on here? Had the Time Lords changed their minds? Moments later, the Doctor received his answer as the voice of one of the three Time Lords who had presided over his trial echoed through the room. "Doctor, it has been decided that you will be given one last chance. Your appearance will not be changed and you will be allowed to continue your travels."

The Doctor began to thank the Time Lord, only to be cut off in mid-sentence.

"Providing you agree to the following conditions. There are races who seek to steal our knowledge, but our policy of non-interference makes it difficult for us to take action. But, if you will act as our agent - unofficially, of course - we can prevent unnecessary damage to the space-time continuum. However, should you fail to keep to these terms, the original sentence of the tribunal will be carried out immediately, regardless of where you are in time and space."

"Yes, of course," the Doctor said, standing up and taking his position at the TARDIS console. A position he had taken many times before.


	10. Moment Ten

**Moment Ten**

The Doctor unlocked the door to the TARDIS and stepped inside. The console looked the same as ever, ready for him to press the dematerialisation switch and whisk him off to some distant point in time and space. But, thanks to the Time Lords, the TARDIS wasn't going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Instead, like the Doctor, it was stuck on 20th Century Earth.

Turning, the Doctor saw that his lab assistant, Liz Shaw, had followed him into the TARDIS and was gazing round at the vast interior. The expression on her face was one he had seen on the faces of his companions many times before: disbelief that something which looked like an ordinary police box could be so huge inside. And, given her scientific background, he knew she must be trying to reconcile what she saw with what she had been taught was scientifically possible.

"Well, Miss Shaw, what do you think?" He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say; everyone . . . correction, every non-Gallifreyan who set foot in the TARDIS said the same thing, or some variation on it. The idea that such a vast space could fit into a much smaller space was beyond the understanding of most races. He'd once tried to explain it to Ian and Barbara by comparing it to their ability to use television to show a large building in a small sitting room, but he doubted they had truly understood.

"It's . . ."

"Bigger on the inside? That's what everyone else says." The Doctor crossed over to the console. For a moment, his finger hovered over the dematerialisation switch, but he then remembered what had happened the last time he pressed that switch. Because he had repeatedly interfered in the affairs of others, his fellow Time Lords had forced him to regenerate and banished him to Earth. And, as part of the punishment, they had disabled the TARDIS to make sure he couldn't escape from his exile. So, when he tried to operate the TARDIS, he only succeeded in causing the engines to backfire.

"Yes, I can see it's bigger on the inside," Liz said, joining the Doctor at the console. "But what's it all for?"

The Doctor answered Liz's question with one of his own. "If I told you this machine could travel in time, would you believe me?"

The look on Liz's face told him she would not, at least not without proof. Proof which, thanks to his fellow Time Lords, he could not give her; the TARDIS was immobilised and it was going to stay immobilised until they decided otherwise. That was one of the things he hated about being stuck on Earth, knowing that he was effectively a prisoner on the planet. It wasn't that he disliked Earth - quite the reverse, in fact - but, after roaming around in space and time for so long, the thought of being confined like this was hard to bear.

"Well, it can," he told her, running his hand over the console. "Or rather it could. Now . . ." He shook his head and sighed. "Forced to walk the slow path." He sighed again, recalling all the places the TARDIS had taken him, all the people he had met. Now, the only chance he had of returning to all that was for his fellow Time Lords to lift his exile. Unless he could somehow get the TARDIS working again by himself. It wouldn't be easy, especially in this relatively primitive time, but there had to be a way. It was just a matter of finding it . . .

He gave the console a comforting pat. "Don't worry, old girl. Whatever they've done to you, I'll find a way to fix it." He turned to Liz. "If the Brigadier wants me for anything, tell him I'm busy."

Liz shook her head at the sight of the Doctor talking to a machine as if it was a living thing, then walked out of the TARDIS.


	11. Moment Eleven

**Moment Eleven**

The last thing Sergeant Benton remembered was that he had been standing next to the TOMTIT device while Ruth Ingram and Stuart Hyde worked on freeing the Brigadier and his men from the hiatus in time which the Master had used to trap them. He'd suddenly felt a rush of what he could only describe as energy of some kind, but the hours since were a complete blank. He supposed he must have passed out - perhaps he should have a medical when he got back to UNIT HQ - but that didn't explain why he was currently stark naked.

Grateful for the laboratory equipment that was protecting his modesty, he looked at the faces of the others - Ruth, Stuart, the Brigadier, the Doctor, Jo. All of them were laughing, or at least smiling, with the exception of the Brigadier. He did not seem to be at all amused; in fact, the look on his face told Benton that he had a pretty low opinion of sergeants who stood before him with no clothes on. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the Brigadier's voice cut through the laughter. "For goodness sake, Benton, get some clothes on!" Then, as Benton hurried to do as ordered, he turned to Ruth and Stuart. "And I think you had better explain what's going on here," he added, fixing the two scientists with a look which told them they would be well advised to do as he told them.

Bit by bit, Ruth and Stuart told the whole story. How the Master had used the TOMTIT device to trap the Brigadier and his men, how they had tried switching the device off only to find that TOMTIT had caused a gap in time, how Ruth had tried turning the circuits upside down to see if it would help close the gap. "And that's when it happened," she explained. "Sergeant Benton got caught in TOMTIT's energy field and, the next thing Stuart and I knew, he'd turned into a baby."

"A baby?" The look on the Brigadier's face as he repeated the last two words could only be described as incredulous.

"Just under a year old, I'd say," Ruth said. And, at the same time, the Doctor frowned as if he was trying to figure something out.

"Yes, of course! With the polarity reversed, it didn't turn Benton into an old man. Instead, his personal time started going backwards, regressing him to his infancy. Which," the Doctor added, "could have been even more dangerous than what happened to Stuart." Earlier in the day, Stuart had also been caught in the energy field and had aged fifty-five years; fortunately, a massive feedback of time had later reversed the ageing process.

"How come?" asked Jo, speaking for the first time since she and the Doctor returned from their trip to Atlantis. "Surely if you get turned into a baby, it just means you have to grow up all over again."

The Doctor frowned at the young woman, wondering how he could make her understand. "Jo, think about it," he said at last. "If that device had regressed Benton far enough, it would eventually have reached a point where he ceased to exist at all. That's one of the dangers of fooling around with time - unless, of course, you know what you're doing."

Not that the Master ever considered the possible consequences of what he was doing, the Doctor reflected; indeed, the rogue Time Lord had been determined to harness the power of the Chronovore, Kronos, at all costs. And that cost had been the destruction of Atlantis and, very nearly, the whole Universe. All the Doctor could do now was hope that, wherever and whenever the Master was now, it would be a long time before he was tempted to try anything like this again. Of course, it would be too much to hope that his old enemy would be deterred from his ambitions for very long. All the failure of his Kronos stratagem meant was that he would be forced to explore other avenues of mischief.

But, whatever the Master's next scheme involved, the Doctor intended to be ready for him.


	12. Moment Twelve

**Moment Twelve**

Revenge. The word circulated through Omega's mind as he stood surveying the world he had created. Revenge on the ones who had wronged him, who had abandoned and forgotten him - it was what he craved more than anything else. That and finding a means of escaping from the anti-matter universe that had been his prison for countless ages.

It shouldn't have been this way. When he had been chosen to trigger the supernova that would provide the energy source for his people's time-travel experiments, he had thought it a great honour. But he was unable to escape the forces he had unleashed and had ended up being sucked into the black hole left behind when he detonated the star which had been selected for the purpose.

The next thing he remembered was waking up to find himself in a world which, according to all known scientific laws, should not exist. A world of anti-matter, a world which existed at the bottom of a black hole. Not only that, he soon learned that he had the power to create anything he wished in this strange world.

Years passed, centuries passed and still Omega remained in the anti-matter universe, growing more and more insane. He soon found that it was impossible for him to escape without abandoning control of the world he had created, but, every time he tried to abandon control, he found he couldn't escape. He was a prisoner, with no means of escape and no hope of rescue. Except one, one which would allow him to get revenge on his fellow Gallifreyans (or Time Lords as they had come to be known) for betraying and abandoning him.

He would drain energy from Gallifrey, depriving the Time Lords of their time-travel facility. But that was only part of his plan; he also meant to escape and the only way he could do so was to find someone to take his place, someone who could also hold this world together. And the only race capable of doing so was the Time Lords. With that in mind, Omega knew what he must do. He must send an organism to locate one of his brother Time Lords and bring him here. Or one of his sister Time Ladies . . .

Omega did not care who took his place; all he knew was that he was weary of the endless solitude. He was used to solitude, but that didn't mean he liked it. In fact, he hated it; the knowledge that he had been abandoned by his own people had eaten away at his sanity. Now, all he cared about was escaping. That and getting revenge. Once he was free, he would make his brother Time Lords pay many times over for their betrayal. He would make sure they suffered for what they had done to him.

Of course, there was one thing which might have scuppered his plans. If anti-matter and matter came into contact, it would cause a massive explosion - usually. But, in this universe, the usual laws of physics did not apply; his will was the only law here. So all he had to do was process anything that crossed between the two universes, allowing matter and anti-matter to meet safely. It was the only way he would ever get the revenge he craved.

Omega surveyed his reflection in the mirror he had conjured up. He saw a tall, robed figure, his face concealed by the mask he wore to protect himself from the corrosive effects of the Singularity Beam which linked the two universes. Without the mask, the Beam would gradually destroy him; only by keeping it on could he hope to avoid this fate.

But not for very much longer, he told himself. Soon, he would find a Time Lord to take his place and, when that happened, he would be able to escape from this anti-matter universe. And he would finally be able to take off the mask he had worn for so long that he had forgotten what his face looked like.

But, as he stood there plotting his revenge against those who had wronged him, it did not occur to him that it was already too late, that, beneath his mask and robes, he no longer had a physical form.


	13. Moment Thirteen

**Moment Thirteen**

Jo Jones, formerly Jo Grant, stood outside Cardiff Registry Office, her new husband by her side. Dressed in a light blue dress and clutching a posy of flowers, she smiled, looking radiant with happiness. Beside her, Cliff Jones looked exceptionally smart in the suit he had worn when he collected his Nobel Prize; it was hard to believe that she had come so close to losing him only a few weeks ago.

She recalled the giant maggots she and the Doctor had encountered near the village of Llanfairfach, maggots mutated by the toxic waste which Global Chemicals had been pumping into a disused mine. The maggots emitted a green slime which poisoned anyone who came into contact with it; Cliff had nearly died from its effects, as four other men had done already. Luckily, it turned out that the fungus which Cliff was trying to develop into a meat substitute was poisonous to the maggots. So the creatures, which had seemed invincible, were soon completely wiped out; the fungus had also provided a cure for Cliff.

Jo had admired Cliff for some time before she actually met him, having read his articles on environmental issues. So, when she learned he was campaigning against Global Chemicals, she was determined to join him and the other members of his Wholeweal organisation in their fight. Though she and Cliff had got off to a bad start after she accidentally ruined one of his experiments, they had quickly fallen in love and, once he had recovered from the effects of the maggot slime, he had asked her to marry him.

It had been a low-key wedding; the only witnesses were the other members of Wholeweal. The Brigadier, Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates, though they sent messages of congratulation, had commitments at UNIT and couldn't attend. As for the Doctor, there was no telling where or when he was, especially now that his fellow Time Lords had lifted his exile.

Part of her had hoped he might be here today, but something told her it would be a long time before she saw the Doctor again - if she saw him again at all. He hadn't even stayed for her and Cliff's impromptu engagement party, though he had given her a rather unusual wedding present. A beautiful sapphire from the planet Metebelis III, a sapphire with many strange properties, including the ability to counter the effects of mental conditioning.

But, as much as she had enjoyed her time as the Doctor's lab assistant, Jo knew it was time for her to move on. Tomorrow, she and Cliff would set off on an expedition to the jungles of South America, where Cliff hoped to find the mushroom which he believed might be what he had been searching for. That would mean adventures which, while not in the same league as fighting the Daleks or defeating the Master's mad schemes, could nevertheless prove exciting.

And then there was the news that the Wholeweal Community had been designated a Priority One research facility. Cliff believed passionately that humanity must find an alternative to the fossil fuels they depended on so heavily; now, with official backing, he would be able to take his research even further. There were times when having an uncle who worked for the United Nations came in useful. Not that Jo was in the habit of asking her uncle for favours; the only other time she had done so was when he got her the lab assistant's job at UNIT. That had led to adventures that she had never dreamed of and it had also led her to Cliff. She was no longer Miss Grant; she was Mrs Jones.

Mrs Jones - she repeated the words in her mind, getting used to the sound. She was now Mrs Jones, wife of Nobel Prize winner Cliff Jones. And she and her husband would soon be exploring the jungle on a quest which Cliff hoped would help solve the world's food crisis.

And, within a few decades, she would be the matriarch of a family of eco-radicals.


	14. Moment Fourteen

**Moment Fourteen**

Queen Thalira of Peladon looked down at her newborn daughter. Princess Zarita, like her two-year-old brother, Prince Lenesh, had been born into a world which had undergone many changes. The planet Peladon had traditionally been a feudal society, but, over the last ten years, Thalira had begun to modernise, starting by appointing Gebek, one of the lower-ranked Peladonians who mined trisilicate, as her Chancellor. It had been the Doctor who recommended Gebek, saying the fact that the man had no title was no reason not to promote him.

The Doctor. As a child, Thalira had heard stories about a man called the Doctor who came to Peladon when the planet was on the verge of joining the Galactic Federation. Fifty years later, he returned, by which time Peladon was in the middle of a crisis involving a group of Miners who were opposed to the Federation, a crisis which was being secretly exploited by enemy agents from Galaxy Five. Thalira, now Queen of Peladon, was struggling to control the situation, but she was young and unsure of herself. And the fact that, as a female, she had no power in her own right didn't help.

But things were now changing. Following some sound advice on something called "Women's Lib" from the Doctor's friend, Sarah Jane, Thalira had found the courage to stand up for herself. She had later decreed that, from now on, a woman's opinion was to carry the same weight as a man's, particularly if that woman happened to be a Queen.

So Thalira, the Queen who had only been crowned because her father (who had married late in life) had no sons, began the slow process of modernising her planet. Among other things, she had put an end to summary justice, ordering that, from now on, criminals were to be given proper trials and should only be punished if they were found guilty.

Thalira looked round as the door opened and a strange creature entered the room. The creature looked something like a giant upright caterpillar with a single eye and six arms. This was Peladon's Federation Ambassador, a native of Alpha Centauri; his name was unpronounceable in any humanoid language, so he was generally referred to as "Alpha Centauri" and addressed as "Ambassador". When he spoke, it was in a high-pitched voice.

"Is the new Princess well, Your Majesty?"

"See for yourself." Thalira held Zarita so that Alpha Centauri could see the infant properly. Alpha Centauri inspected the child for several moments before he spoke again.

"She has inherited Your Majesty's beauty. Truly this is a day for rejoicing."

Thalira nodded in agreement. "I will present her to the court in seven days' time. And . . ." She paused, then continued. ". . . I'm also going to make an announcement. If Prince Lenesh fails to produce an heir, the line of succession will pass to his sister, Princess Zarita." Such an announcement would have been unthinkable not too long ago, but, with all the changes which had happened on Peladon, maybe it was time for Peladonian Princesses to have an official place in the line of succession.

Under Thalira's rule, Peladon was beginning to shake off the barbarism of the past and the young Queen hoped her son would continue her reforms when he came to the throne. And she was going to see to it that both her children were taught that, just because something had always been done a certain way, there was no reason not to try a different way. Such as not dismissing a female as "unimportant" simply because she was female, an idea which some older people still found difficult to accept. And, in particular, she wanted both her children, but especially Zarita, to learn the lesson which Sarah Jane had once taught her. That there was "nothing "only" about being a girl."


	15. Moment Fifteen

**Moment Fifteen**

They had to reach the Kaled City and warn the leaders of the impending danger from the Thals' war rocket. If they failed to make it, not only would the entire City be destroyed, but the Doctor would lose the backing of the Kaled Government in his attempts to stop Davros's Dalek project. Earlier, the Kaled leader, Mogran, had agreed to suspend Davros's experiments pending an investigation, but, knowing the likely outcome of that investigation, Davros had chosen to kill his own people. Or, at least, get the Thals to do it for him.

Now, while the Doctor tried to stop the rocket, Harry, Sarah Jane and Sevrin were running across the Wastelands, heading towards the Kaled City. They were moving as fast as they could, but Sevrin's crippled leg was slowing him down and they knew time was short. The rocket was primed and ready, loaded with distronic explosives. And, now that (thanks to Davros and Nyder) the Thals knew the secret formula for destroying the Kaled Dome, all they had to do was launch the rocket; they were already bombarding the Dome in preparation.

Suddenly, several ragged humanoid figures appeared as if from nowhere, brandishing clubs. Mutos, Thals and Kaleds born deformed as a result of the radiation which contaminated Skaro; they had been cast out of their respective Cities and forced to live in the Wastelands. The Kaleds saw them as a threat to the purity of their race (Nyder had described them as "scarred relics") and the Thals thought they were only useful as expendable labour.

Sarah Jane shuddered as the pack surrounded them. The Muto nearest to her was probably a woman, though it was hard to tell since it was dark and they all wore shapeless clothing which hid physical details. But nothing could conceal the club which the Muto woman held in her hand, a hand which had two extra fingers. And that club looked like it could do serious damage to someone's skull. Sarah Jane, Harry and Sevrin were trapped, hopelessly outnumbered and without a weapon between them.

Except one, which Sevrin now tried to utilise. "Listen to me, all of you!" he told his fellow Mutos. "You have to let us pass. We must reach the Kaled City . . ."

The only response was a derisive laugh from the Muto woman. "What?! So you and your Norm friends can betray us?! I don't think so, Sevrin!"

"You don't understand!" Sarah Jane joined in the argument on Sevrin's side. "We don't want to betray anyone! It's Davros who's the traitor - he's . . ." The sound of a rocket in flight cut her off in mid-sentence and everyone looked up just in time to see the Thals' rocket flying overhead, heading straight for the Kaled Dome. It hit and the resulting explosion lit up the Skaroene night, sending the Muto pack running in all directions. Instinctively, Sarah Jane, Harry and Sevrin flung themselves to the ground as it shook from the force of the explosion.

When the shaking had subsided, the three friends picked themselves up and exchanged glances. The fact that the Thals had launched their rocket successfully could only mean the Doctor had been unable to stop them. But where was the Doctor now? Was he still alive, or had the Thals . . .? Neither Sarah Jane nor Harry wanted to think about the possibility.

They quickly decided to head for the Kaled Bunker. Most of the Kaleds had just been killed, but the members of the Elite were still alive and some of them were uneasy about Davros's experiments. They could be useful allies - if Davros and his supporters didn't get to them first. But, beyond that, both Harry and Sarah Jane knew the Doctor would, assuming he could, also try to make for the Bunker. The Time Ring was still inside and, unless it could be retrieved, the Doctor and his companions would be stranded on Skaro.

Not only that, but the mission to stop the creation of the Daleks had yet to be completed.


	16. Moment Sixteen

**Moment Sixteen**

Even though he had used up all his regenerations, the Master still kept a tenacious grip on life. His body was blackened and emaciated, yet he still endured, driven by a fanatical desire to survive. Most Time Lords accepted that once they had regenerated twelve times, they could no longer replace a worn-out body with a new one. But not the Master; he was prepared to endure a grotesque parody of life rather than accept his own mortality.

All the same, he knew there had to be a way of renewing himself. And, now that he was out of regenerations, he would have to find some other means of doing so. There was little chance of the High Council granting him a new regeneration cycle; they only did so in very rare cases. But, when Chancellor Goth met him on the planet Tersurus, the Master realised he had found the answer. Goth wanted power and he did not care what he had to do to get it, which made it easy for the Master to bend him to his will.

Goth brought the Master back to Gallifrey, where the Master would bide his time until the President decided to retire. When the time came, Goth was going to kill the President before he could name his successor, forcing an election. An election in which Goth was certain to stand unopposed, allowing both him and the Master access to relics from the Old Time which would enable the Master to renew his regeneration cycle. After that, Goth would have outlived his usefulness and would be dealt with accordingly.

And the Master planned to rid himself of the Doctor at the same time. Or, at least, get his fellow Time Lords to do it for him. So he lured the Doctor to Gallifrey on the next Presidential Resignation Day, then framed him for the murder of the President. Except, things didn't go entirely as planned; the Doctor, on trial for his life, invoked Article 17, offering himself as a candidate for the Presidency.

That, the Master knew, could ruin everything. The trial had been adjourned until after the election, giving the Doctor forty-eight hours to clear his name and find the real killer. And, to make matters worse, Commentator Runcible was now on his way to Records with film from the Public Register camera which contained footage of the assassination. The Master had to make sure no-one in authority got to see this footage.

With that in mind, he stole up behind Runcible, a knife concealed under his robes. Before Runcible realised what had happened, the Master thrust the knife into his back, inflicting a wound which even a Time Lord could not regenerate his way out of. At least this time there was no chance of Runcible alerting anyone, unlike earlier when he had screamed at the sight of his technician's shrunken corpse. That scream had brought the Doctor, Castellan Spandrell and Hilred running - and forced the Master to flee.

But, as he hurried away to destroy the film, the Master was unaware that, despite having a knife lodged in his back, Runcible had made it back to the Panopticon, where the Doctor, Spandrell and Hilred waited, before he fell down, dead. His last words had been: "I'm sorry, so sorry . . ."

The Master, however, was more concerned with eliminating the Doctor. And, since the Doctor was so hard to kill by conventional means (unlike that fool of a Commentator) that meant the Master would have to use the APC Net. He had already used the Net to send the Doctor a vision of the President's death; now, he planned to use it to trap the Doctor in the Matrix. Goth, hooked up to the Net, was going to create a dreamscape, one which would ensnare the Doctor and, with a bit of luck, kill him.

The Doctor, once the Master's friend but now his deadliest enemy. The Master had tried many times before to rid himself of his adversary, but this time things would be different. By the time Goth was through with him, the Doctor would be finished once and for all.


	17. Moment Seventeen

**Moment Seventeen**

"You look lovely, my dear," Mrs Hudson said, stepping back and admiring the outfit Leela was wearing, the outfit which Professor Litefoot had bought for her. Considering he had never bought women's clothes before, Mrs Hudson thought he had done well to pick something which looked so good on the strange young woman he had brought to his house.

"Thank you," Leela said, remembering the manners which the Doctor had taught her. Though she outwardly looked no different from any other young woman in the 1890s, she actually came from another planet in the distant future, where she had been raised as a warrior. Her people, the Sevateem, were the descendants of explorers from Earth who had degenerated into a tribe of primitive savages. Consequently, though she had learned a great deal since she started travelling with the Doctor, there were still things she had never experienced.

Including wearing a skirt which came down to the floor. When she and the Doctor first arrived in this time, the outfit she had been wearing had included a pair of knee-length breeches. She would have preferred to wear her usual short tunic, but the Doctor had told her such an outfit would be completely unsuitable for walking around Victorian London; aside from anything else, it would, in his words, "frighten the horses".

"Do you always wear these long garments?" Leela asked, looking down at her skirt, then at the dark blue dress which Mrs Hudson was wearing.

"Of course. No respectable lady would allow a gentleman to see her ankles." Maybe they did things differently where Leela came from - Litefoot had not been all that specific on that point, though he had mentioned something about the Amazon - but this was 19th Century England. There were certain standards of behaviour which young women were expected to adhere to. But, from what Mrs Hudson had been told, it seemed Leela had little understanding of even basic social etiquette.

Indeed, Mrs Hudson had never met anyone quite like Leela before; there was a wildness about the younger woman that she sensed would never be fully tamed. Even if she was taught to be the very model of a Victorian lady, this would at best produce superficial changes, behind which the fierce warrior woman would always lurk. The fierce warrior woman who, according to Litefoot, knew where to strike when aiming a death blow at the heart.

Leela fingered the material of her skirt. It felt strange to be wearing something other than the tribal outfit she was used to; the material felt different from the animal skins she usually wore, but she had to admit it felt nice. She would change back into her Sevateem clothes (such as they were) when she got back to the TARDIS, but, in the meantime . . . "Do you think the Doctor will like it?" she asked.

"I'm sure he will," Mrs Hudson replied. She had never met the Doctor and only knew that he and Leela travelled together and had come to London for an evening at the theatre. Except, the two of them had become caught up in a mystery involving the disappearances of several young women, which had had Scotland Yard baffled for weeks. Some newspapers had speculated that the killer known as Jack the Ripper could be at work again, not that Mrs Hudson took any notice of such things. She simply delivered the morning paper to Litefoot, then left him to read it.

"Then I shall go and show him." With that, Leela turned and left the room, heading downstairs to where the Doctor and Litefoot waited.

She thought about everything she and the Doctor had seen since arriving in this time, in particular the masked figure claiming to be the Chinese god, Weng-Chiang. He was draining the life essences from the missing women, though Leela had no idea what purpose this served. All she knew was that something evil was happening and it was up to her and the Doctor to stop it.


	18. Moment Eighteen

**Moment Eighteen**

As soon as the TARDIS had materialised, the Doctor turned to Leela and K-9. "Now listen, you two," he told them. "When I step out of those doors, you are not to follow me, either of you. And," he added, nodding towards the currently closed scanner screen, "that stays off until further notice." K-9 bowed his head in acknowledgement of his master's orders. Leela, however, tensed visibly, her fingers closing around the handle of her knife. Something was wrong here; her warrior's instincts sensed it. Whatever lay in wait beyond the TARDIS doors, she could not allow the Doctor to face it alone; he would need her fighting skills for protection.

But, when she told the Doctor this, he shook his head. "Not this time, Leela. This is something I have to do alone." Under normal circumstances, he would have been perfectly happy for Leela to accompany him, but her forthright nature and tendency to speak her mind would only lead to trouble when he was dealing with a race like the Vardans.

"Really? And how long would you have lasted without me? Who saved you from Magnus Greel's assassin? Who was the only person immune to that space virus?" Leela recalled other occasions when her highly tuned senses and other warrior skills, developed since her childhood among the Sevateem, had helped herself and the Doctor to get out of some tight corners. But, before she could begin listing them, the Doctor shook his head again and repeated his statement that he had to do this alone.

"You know how to operate the console?" the Doctor asked next. "You've seen me do it often enough." Leela nodded; the principles of dematerialisation and rematerialisation were beyond her grasp, but she did at least know which lever opened and closed the doors. "Good girl." The Doctor pulled the lever in question. "Right, I want you to secure those doors as soon as I've left, make sure no-one else can get in. It's vitally important," he added, looking at Leela in a way which told her just how vitally important this was.

"Then I shall not let you down," Leela said, watching as the Doctor, one end of his scarf draped over his shoulder, stepped through the TARDIS doors. Before he was even out of sight, she pulled the lever to close them again, then turned to look at the robot dog who was now the TARDIS's only other occupant. "Why didn't he want me with him?" she wondered out loud.

_"Available data concerning Doctor's current motives: nil,"_ was K-9's only response.

"You mean you don't know either?" Leela had always assumed K-9 knew everything, but apparently not.

_"Affirmative."_

As he made his way to the pre-arranged meeting place, the Doctor thought about what he was doing. The Vardans were a militaristic race, with highly developed telepathic powers and the ability to travel along broadcast wavelengths. And they had designs on Gallifrey. Few races would dare to risk invading the home world of the Time Lords, so any who did were especially dangerous. The Doctor knew the only way to stop the Vardans was to pretend to co-operate with them, but their mind-reading abilities were such that a straightfoward pretence would soon be detected. He could shield his mind to an extent, but only a lead-lined room, or a TARDIS with the scanner switched off, could block the Vardans completely.

The Doctor also knew it would appear that he was betraying his own people, and even his own companion, but there was no other choice. The Vardans had to be stopped and pretending to co-operate with them was the only way. But, unknown to him, an old enemy was lurking behind the scenes, waiting for the chance to strike.


	19. Moment Nineteen

**Moment Nineteen**

"I see a visitor coming to you from beyond the stars!" Organon raised his arms for dramatic effect. This was one of his favourite predictions; he'd found it grabbed people's attention whenever he uttered those words, or some variation on them. Not that there was much chance of this particular prediction coming true - as far as he knew, no visitors from beyond the stars had ever landed on Chloris - but it still went down well with most people.

Lady Adrasta frowned at Organon's words. "A visitor from beyond the stars?" she demanded sharply. "What sort of visitor? From beyond which stars?" She did not let on that she had already received such a visitor; a few years earlier, Erato, the High Ambassador from the planet Tythonus, had come to Chloris to propose a trading agreement, offering to supply the Chlorians with metal in exchange for the chlorophyll the Tythonians (a race of giant green blobs) needed to survive.

Unfortunately, Adrasta saw Erato as a threat to her monopoly on Chloris's metal supply. So she had him cast into the Pit (a disused mine) and turned his communicator into a wall decoration for her throne-room. She also began throwing anyone who displeased her into the Pit, supposedly to be eaten by Erato (whom she dubbed the Creature) even though she knew the Tythonian did not eat people. She hoped Erato would eventually die of starvation, but it seemed to be taking rather a long time.

"The shadows of the future are vague." Organon tried to stall Adrasta's questions. "Even to me, they do not . . ." But he was cut off in mid-sentence as Adrasta slapped him across the face.

"That isn't what I asked you!" Adrasta got up from her throne and circled Organon like a predator circles its prey. "I don't think you're an astrologer at all. I think you're a fraud. Well, your parlour tricks might fool other people, but they won't fool me. I'll give you one last chance. Tell me who this so-called visitor from beyond the stars is - or else!"

In that moment, Organon realised he had made a serious mistake in agreeing to make predictions for Adrasta. She was clearly a very power-hungry woman, determined to do whatever it took to maintain her grip on power. And anyone who dared to cross her would be made to suffer for it; she was completely ruthless, motivated entirely by greed. The moment he realised this, Organon turned to flee, but Adrasta was too quick for him and signalled her guards, who seized the astrologer as he ran towards the door.

"So." Adrasta's tone was flat as she looked at her prisoner. "By attempting to flee you prove your own duplicity. Well," she added, as Organon sank to his knees, whimpering, "I shall make sure you don't live long enough to deceive anyone else." She nodded towards her guards. "Bring him." She did not need to say anything else; all her guards knew what those two words meant and they also knew refusing to comply meant they would suffer the same fate.

Within minutes, a small group of Chlorians was assembled by the Pit. Adrasta (standing with her lady-in-waiting, Karela) nodded and, as a mournful note issued from a hunting horn, Organon was forced to the edge. He made one final, desperate attempt to plead for mercy, but Adrasta's only response was to nod again, signalling for those escorting the condemned man to proceed. As he was sent tumbling into the depths of the Pit, the one thought in Organon's mind was that he should have consulted his stars before he went anywhere near Adrasta; they would probably have warned him to stay well away from her. However, it was too late now.

Adrasta led her entourage away from the Pit, satisfied that another person who had been foolish enough to cross her had been suitably dealt with. No-one ever escaped from the Pit, so, if Organon wasn't already dead, it would not be long before he was.


	20. Moment Twenty

**Moment Twenty**

The Doctor and Romana exchanged glances, then looked down at the boy who had just collapsed on the floor of the Console Room. "Who is he?" the Doctor wondered out loud. "Where did he come from?"

"I don't know," Romana replied. "But at least this proves we're not alone here. Wherever here is," she added after a moment's thought. She and the Doctor were still no nearer solving the mystery of why, when the TARDIS had materialised on the right co-ordinates and the scanner showed an image of Gallifrey, they were on a completely different planet. Perhaps it had something to do with the disruption they had passed through earlier, when K-9 had briefly lost control of the TARDIS.

"Well, we'd better find out, hadn't we?" said the Doctor, lifting the unconscious boy off the floor. "Come on." He and Romana had been trying to find out what was wrong with the TARDIS when they heard someone pounding on the doors. Romana had opened them to admit a dark-haired teenaged boy, but the Doctor barely had time to ask the youngster who he was before he passed out. However, there was nothing obviously wrong with the boy, apart from a cut on his knee, so what had caused him to collapse? Exhaustion? Probably.

A little later, in Romana's quarters, the boy began to come round. As he recovered, he spoke of something called "Mistfall", a "myth" according to his brother. "But I've seen it," the boy added, his voice cracking slightly. It was clear that he had been badly frightened by something. But what? What had he seen?

The Doctor put this question to the boy, who paused as if trying to collect his thoughts, then spoke again. "The water bubbling, mist rising from the surface. Some of the old people still remember when it happened before - they say it gave off poisonous gases. Decider Draith . . ." He hesitated for a moment, before continuing. "Decider Draith was trying to get me to come back to the Starliner, but I wouldn't go. And that's when it happened . . ."

"When what happened?" was the Doctor's next question. He ignored the look from Romana which said he should not put too much pressure on the boy to answer questions right now; something told him it was vital to know what was happening on this planet. And, unless he and Romana could make contact with some of the other inhabitants, the only person who could tell them anything was currently lying in front of them.

"Something grabbed Decider Draith and dragged him under the water. I tried to save him, but whatever had grabbed him was too strong. I remember running for my life . . . And that's when I ended up here."

Under further questioning, the boy revealed that his name was Adric and that this planet was called Alzarius, a name which meant nothing to the Doctor or Romana. Adric's people were, supposedly, the descendants of travellers from the planet Terradon, whose Starliner had crashed on Alzarius centuries before. "We're all working towards the Embarkation," Adric explained. "But Varsh - that's my brother - says the Starliner's never going to take off and the Deciders just want an excuse to tell everyone what to do. That's why he and the other Outlers left."

The Doctor frowned. He and Romana knew a little more than they had known before, but there were still unanswered questions. For one thing, who were Adric's people and where did they come from? Despite what Adric said, the Doctor had a feeling their true origins lay on Alzarius, though he had no way of confirming it as yet. But something also told him that he should try to find out as much as he could about Mistfall. He was about to question Adric further when Romana stopped him; the boy's ordeal had made him tired.


	21. Moment Twenty-one

**Moment Twenty-one**

A strange whooshing sound filled the air as a police box slowly materialised in the corner of the attic. At least it appeared to be a police box, but the reality was something far more out of this world. For this seemingly ordinary blue box concealed a machine which could travel almost anywhere in time and space.

The Doctor checked the console - right on target. "Well, that makes a change," he thought out loud, recalling all the times the TARDIS had ended up in the wrong place, or the wrong time, or both. But not this time; he had programmed the TARDIS for South Croydon and that was where he had ended up. According to the scanner, he was in someone's attic, though he could not as yet be certain whose house the attic was part of. He hoped, however, that this was where his old friend, Sarah Jane Smith, lived - otherwise, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

Before stepping out of the TARDIS, the Doctor took a moment to check on Adric; the boy was currently asleep and the Doctor decided not to disturb him. Instead, he turned his attention to the box which stood in the Console Room, the box which contained a special gift for an old friend. He opened the TARDIS doors and was just dragging the box outside when the attic door suddenly opened and an older woman appeared in the doorway. She and the Doctor both asked the same question at the same time. "Who are you?"

The Doctor straightened up. "Well, as a matter of fact, I was looking for an old friend of mine. Brown hair, about so big." He indicated Sarah Jane's approximate height with his hand. "Her name's Sarah Jane Smith, or at least it was." He had not seen Sarah Jane since she left the TARDIS; for all he knew, she was married with a couple of kids by now. "Do you know her?" he added.

"Oh, you mean my niece," the woman said, getting over the initial shock of finding a strange man in her attic. "I'm afraid she's not here at the moment - she's gone travelling again. Oh, she'll drop in and say hello from time to time, but she never stays long. Off chasing stories, I imagine, being a journalist and everything."

"Oh, she's your niece," the Doctor said, as realisation dawned on him. "Then you must be Lavinia Smith, the famous virologist." He seized Lavinia's hand and shook it vigorously. "It's nice to finally meet you, though I really came to see Sarah. You know, catch up a bit. And to give her this," he added, nodding towards the box. "But I guess I'll just have to leave it with you. You know . . ." He broke off as he realised Lavinia was looking at him very closely.

"You're him, aren't you?" she asked. "You're that Doctor she told me about." As the Doctor nodded, she hurried on. "And don't worry, I'll see that she gets it." She waved her hand in the direction of the box, which had the words:

_For the attention of Sarah Jane Smith_

printed on the lid. The Doctor thanked her and got back into the TARDIS, thinking of all the companions he had seen come and go. He cared about them all, but Sarah Jane had been one of the special ones; it had been hard for him when he was forced to send her home. Though he had picked up other companions since, he had never forgotten the plucky young journalist and he wanted to let her know he still thought of her. So he had made her a present: K-9 Mark III, an exact replica of the two K-9s which had travelled with him.

As the TARDIS faded away, accompanied by a sound she could hardly describe, Lavinia looked at the box. She wondered what was inside, but this gift wasn't meant for her, so she resisted the urge to have a look. Instead, she promised to keep it safe, ready for when Sarah Jane came back.


	22. Moment Twenty-two

**Moment Twenty-two**

The Doctor listened with growing alarm as Tegan and Nyssa explained what had happened. Somewhere, though neither of them was sure where, the Master was holding Adric prisoner. "When did this happen?" he demanded, recalling that the last place he had seen Adric was inside the TARDIS. The two of them had been searching for the Zero Room (where the Doctor had hoped to recover from his recent regeneration) when Adric had taken a wrong turn. The Doctor had not seen him since.

"We don't know," Nyssa replied. "He was with us when we left the Pharos Project." Or was he? She remembered the moment the Master's TARDIS appeared and zapped the security guards who had detained Adric, as well as Adric himself. When she and Tegan went outside to investigate, they saw no sign of Adric - until the Master's TARDIS dematerialised, leaving the boy standing there, apparently unharmed. A little too convenient, she now realised, which meant either the Master had hypnotised Adric, then concealed his TARDIS inside the Doctor's to wait his chance, or the person she and Tegan had thought was Adric was nothing but a Block Transfer simulation.

But, whatever the truth was, there was no doubt that Adric was currently in the Master's clutches and that the Master was using him to try and destroy the Doctor, which was why the TARDIS had nearly been caught in Event One. The only way to escape this trap was to delete several rooms to give the TARDIS a power boost. Unfortunately, this had included the Zero Room; the Zero Cabinet, a coffin-like box constructed out of the doors, was all that remained. So Tegan and Nyssa had brought the Doctor to the peaceful city of Castrovalva which, according to the TARDIS databank, had properties similar to a Zero Room.

"Why didn't one of you say anything earlier?" The Doctor recalled how Tegan and Nyssa had evaded his questions about Adric's whereabouts. He could sense that something was wrong, something involving the young Alzarian, but neither Tegan nor Nyssa would tell him anything. And then there was the moment by the Portreeve's tapestry when he had briefly forgotten who Adric was; he knew he had three companions, but could only remember Tegan and Nyssa. It was an encounter with a small girl who shared Adric's love of counting that had stirred his memory.

"You weren't properly stabilised," said Nyssa. "We couldn't risk telling you until you were fully regenerated." She did not mention the incident where Adric - or at least a Block Transfer copy of him - had appeared in a mirror and warned her not to let the Doctor leave Castrovalva.

The Doctor knew Nyssa was right. This regeneration had proved to be his most difficult so far; he knew regenerations did sometimes go wrong, but he had never experienced it at first hand before. There had been no complications arising from his first three regenerations, but this time had been different. The last thing he had needed was to find himself in the middle of a crisis, but it seemed that was what had happened.

Before either Tegan or Nyssa could say anything, the Doctor was making a dash for the door. "Come on!" he called to his two newest companions. "Maybe we can trace the Master's TARDIS." He did not know if he was fully recovered, but that was not his main concern right now. Every second he, Tegan and Nyssa remained in Castrovalva, Adric remained in the Master's clutches; no matter what happened, he had to find the boy and rescue him. He could not afford to worry about whether or not his regeneration had stabilised, not when Adric needed him.

"Are you sure you're up to it?" asked Tegan, recalling how weak the Doctor had been earlier. "I mean, shouldn't we get some of the Castrovalvans to help?"

"No time!" Besides, the Doctor added silently, he had a feeling that Castrovalva and its inhabitants were not what they seemed.


	23. Moment Twenty-three

**Moment Twenty-three**

Adric sighed; things had changed on board the TARDIS and, as far as he was concerned, not all those changes were for the better. Especially the change in the Doctor; it wasn't just the Time Lord's appearance that had altered when he regenerated, but his personality as well. And this new Doctor had developed an annoying habit of treating Adric as though he was still just a child, not as the young man he was becoming.

Worse, it seemed the only time the Doctor acknowledged his presence lately was when he was being reprimanded for doing something foolish. Such as taking what Monarch said at face value, or trying to pilot the TSS on Deva Loka. It wasn't his fault he had panicked and sent the machine out of control. He hadn't realised it was so hard to control in the first place; he'd thought operating a machine with the power of his mind should be easy enough. But, when he tried to use the TSS to escape from the Dome, his lack of experience meant he had quickly lost control.

Right now, Adric was sulking in his quarters, where he'd retreated after yet another altercation with the Doctor. All he'd done was press a switch on the TARDIS console labelled _Fast Return_; he hadn't known that, the last time the Doctor pressed that switch, it had got stuck and ended up sending the TARDIS back to the creation of Earth's solar system. So, needless to say, the Doctor had to get it unstuck again; afterwards, he had taken Adric to one side and told him he must never touch any of the switches on the console unless he knew what they were for.

Adric had protested at this. He was just curious; he'd never seen the Doctor use the _Fast Return_ switch, so he wanted to know what it did. And, since the Doctor rarely seemed to have time to answer his questions these days, the only way he could find out was to press the switch himself. Eventually, after several minutes of being scolded like a child, Adric had stormed out of the Console Room, slamming the door behind him.

It wasn't fair, Adric thought bitterly. Just because he was younger than Tegan and Nyssa, he didn't see why the Doctor should treat him like a five-year-old. Besides, how was he supposed to know that switch was going to get stuck? If the Doctor didn't keep brushing him to one side, he would have known not to press it and he wouldn't have found himself on the wrong end of yet another scolding.

Just then, Adric heard a knock on his door. "Adric?" a gentle female voice called. "May I come in?" Nyssa. Though she was Adric's closest friend among his fellow time-travellers, he was currently in such a bad mood that he was tempted to respond by telling her to "go away". But, before he could say anything, she opened the door and entered the room, a look of sympathy on her face. Sitting down beside Adric, she gently asked him what was wrong.

"What do you think?!" Adric asked in reply. "Every time I try to do anything, I mess things up! And the Doctor treats me like a child! I didn't know that switch was faulty - how could I when he never finds time to explain anything to me?!"

"Look," Nyssa said, "I'm sure you and the Doctor will have forgotten all about it before long." After all, they always had in the past. But, right now, it was clear that Adric needed something to take his mind off the recent argument. "I'm working on something in the laboratory," she added. "And I need you to do some calculations."

At the mention of the word "calculations", Adric's mood immediately improved. Maths was his forte; he could solve even the most advanced equations in a matter of minutes. It was also something he enjoyed and, knowing this, Nyssa had asked him to help with the mathematical side of things in one of her experiments. But she also sensed that, in light of what had happened earlier, he needed to feel he was of use to someone.


	24. Moment Twenty-four

**Moment Twenty-four**

Nyssa sighed and turned over, unable to fall asleep; without the sound of Tegan's deep breathing, the room was too quiet. After several failed attempts, the Doctor had finally succeeded in getting Tegan to Heathrow Airport. Nyssa supposed she should be glad her friend was back in her own time, but that didn't mean she missed her any less.

But that wasn't the only thing keeping Nyssa awake. Her thoughts were filled with memories of Adric; every time she closed her eyes, the moment the freighter crashed into the prehistoric Earth replayed in her mind. The Doctor desperately trying to repair the console after the Cybermen had damaged it, the freighter beginning to burn up in Earth's atmosphere, herself screaming Adric's name as she realised there was no hope of saving the boy . . .

Adric was dead. In one brief, fiery moment, Nyssa had lost the boy who had been with her when she saw the Entropy Field destroy her home world, Traken, the boy she had come to love in spite of his often temperamental nature. Part of her wished she could wake up and find that this was all a bad dream, but the logical part of her mind told her it was reality, that Adric really was gone forever.

In the end, finding that sleep continued to elude her, Nyssa got up and went down to the laboratory. She had often found refuge in science before and she hoped working on one of her experiments might help take her mind off things. But, as she stood at her workbench, all she could think of was the number of times Adric had helped her with her work. Knowing that the two of them would never work together again brought tears to her eyes and, within moments, she was weeping for the young Alzarian whose life had been cut tragically short.

That was how the Doctor found her, standing by her workbench with tears falling down her face, her shoulders shaking. He did not need to ask her what was wrong; he too had been deeply affected by Adric's death. He knew his companions always left him eventually, some to return to their old lives, others to make new lives for themselves and saying goodbye to them was never easy. But at least Victoria, Sarah Jane and the rest had survived. Adric had been his first companion who had died since he was in his first incarnation.

"Nyssa . . .?" the Doctor began, then hesitated. He could hardly ask her if she was all right when he could clearly see that she wasn't.

"Sorry, Doctor," Nyssa said, fighting to get her emotions under control. "I couldn't sleep. I . . ." But she could get no further before grief won the battle and she collapsed into tears once more.

Why, she asked herself, did Adric have to die so young? Especially for such a senseless reason? For he had stayed on the freighter to try and deactivate the device the Cybermen had used to lock the craft on a collision course with Earth, not knowing that, when the freighter crashed, the resulting explosion would wipe out the dinosaurs.

But, if he had known, would it have made any difference? Would he have allowed Briggs, Berger and Scott to lead him away from the controls? Or would he still have insisted on trying to solve all three logic codes? Nyssa suspected the latter was more in line with Adric's personality, but she would never know for sure. All she knew was that Adric was dead, killed in a futile attempt to stop something that was not meant to be stopped.

The Doctor moved closer to Nyssa and slipped his arm round her shoulder, as she continued to cry. He could do nothing except comfort her as best he could; the Laws of Time meant he could not go back and rescue Adric. He hoped the sense of loss would become easier to bear with time, but he doubted it would ever fade completely. Somewhere at the back of his mind, the memory of a young boy with a badge for mathematical excellence would always linger.


End file.
